CLEVELAND – It's kind of a stretch to call the Cleveland Cavaliers a disaster halfway through the season.

Before Monday night's beating of the Chicago Bulls, they were 21-20 at the midway point of the season, they are 22-20 today. In the four seasons between LeBron James' departure and his return, only once did the team win more than 24 wins all season.

But when they've looked bad, they've looked really bad — witness the opener against the Knicks or their recent six-game losing streak, which included a loss to a 76ers team that isn't just awful, but contending to be historically awful.

Ending the West Coast swing with back-to-back wins against the Lakers (meh) and the Clippers (a little more impressive) or the current, modest three-game win streak hasn't quite returned people to their visions of a championship parade down Euclid Avenue in June. Still, it's temporarily leveled the sports-related depression that being a Cleveland fan can bring.

You can't really call the Cavs a disaster, but that's probably only because the bar for Cleveland-related sports disasters is set so high, or low as the case may be. The whole has been less than the sum of its parts since the season started, and that's been enough to make even the least neurotic Cleveland fans nervous.

The mood was muted optimism when the Cavs re-signed Kyrie Irving and got the first overall pick in the draft. The Cavs appeared to use the top pick wisely, picking up Andrew Wiggins from Kansas.

The mood was nothing shy of unbridled euphoria when James announced his return to Cleveland with an as-told-to article in Sports Illustrated. When Wiggins was packaged with Anthony Bennett in a trade to Minnesota to bring Kevin Love to Cleveland, well, there was nothing that could be done to tamp down expectations.

Not only were the Cavs going to win the NBA title, they were going to break the Chicago Bulls' record of 72 wins in a season on the way.

Wiggins has acquitted himself well as a rookie with the Timberwolves, leaving some people worried that the Cavs might have gotten the short end of the stick. But left unspoken in James' return (and really, his free agency in general) is this: He's got more good days behind him than ahead of him. He's 30, and he's been playing NBA basketball since he was 18. He's passed Magic Johnson on the career list of minutes played, and he's going to pass Larry Bird this season.

When the Cavs met the Lakers last week, there was a real Lion in Winter vibe between Kobe Bryant and James. Bryant is 36, and like James, has been playing in the NBA since he graduated high school. He started breaking down about three years ago, and there's fear it could be starting with James, who didn't look like his old self at the season's outset, and spent two weeks out of the lineup, missing eight games due to back and knee soreness. It's the longest he remained out of the lineup in his career.

Was it an injury from which he's recovered? Or the first sign that James is on the downslope?

As noted gerontologist Indiana Jones said, "It's not the years; it's the mileage." James has a lot of miles on him, which doubtless was one of the motivations for the deal for Love. James doesn't have enough years left to wait for Wiggins — a one-and-done player at Kansas — to develop in the NBA.

Love is approaching the peak of his career, which is why everyone expected great contributions from him.

Even when James announced his return, he made it a point to manage expectations.

"I'm not promising a championship," he said. "I know how hard that is to deliver. We're not ready right now. No way. Of course, I want to win next year, but I'm realistic. It will be a long process, much longer than it was in 2010."

In 2010, James joined with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, former Olympic teammates. He'd played with them before, and Wade already had one championship under his belt. In 2014, he was joining Love and Kyrie Irving, who between them have not played a postseason game.

With the Heat, James had the benefit of the steadying hand of Pat Riley. The Cavs are led by David Blatt, an accomplished coach in the Eastern Hemisphere, but an NBA rookie.

Blatt is coaching a team he most certainly did not sign on for. He was hired to coach a young, developing team that was long on potential but short on accomplishment. Instead, he's gotten more talent — but more egos to match.

That's been the biggest problem with the Cavs in the first half. They play like a collection of players, not like a team. Blatt is the coach, and David Griffin is the general manager, but the team belongs to LeBron James.

That's what happens when you're the greatest basketball player on the planet.

"My patience will get tested," James noted. "I know that. I'm going into a situation with a young team and a new coach. I will be the old head.

"But I get a thrill out of bringing a group together and helping them reach a place they didn't know they could go."

We haven't gotten to that point yet. In fact, the scenery seems all too familiar right now, hence the concern.